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People from Britain and Ireland first came to live in Australia in 1788. They brought many different kinds of English with them. These different kinds of English began to mix and change. The new comers soon began to speak with their own distinctive accent and vocabulary.

More and more people came to Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many people came looking for gold. Some came from Britain and Ireland. Others came from non-English speaking countries. Australian English continued to grow and change.

In Australian English the /r/ sound can only occur before a vowel. Many words which sound different in other accents sound the same in Australian English. Some examples are:

caught and court

raw and roar

aunt and aren't

formally and formerly

Some Australian English vowels sound different to vowels of other kinds of English. For example, the vowel in day starts with a very open mouth. This makes the Australian day sound close to the die of most British or American people. Days of the week, however, are often different and the day sounds like dee (usually short and sharp like the letter D).

Sunday becomes Sun-dee

Monday - Mun-dee

Tuesday - Choose-dee (see further explanation below)

Wednesday - Wens-dee (1st D and 2nd E are rarely pronounced and if so, it sounds more like Weddinsday but never Weddinsdee)

Australian English has some vowels not used in some other kinds of English. For example, the words bad and lad do not rhyme because bad has a long vowel and lad has a short one. Also, cot does not sound like caught and bother does not rhyme with father.

As with American English the /t/ sound can sometimes sound like a /d/ sound. This usually happens between vowels. So, for example,

waiter can sound like wader

betting can sound like bedding

got it can sound like god it

thirty can sound like thirdy

Also in the Australian accent a /t/ sound plus the sound of you comes out sounding like chew and a /d/ sound plus the sound of you comes out sounding like Jew. Here are some examples of things which sound the same.

Australians use many words that other English speakers do not use. The famous Australian greeting, for example, is G'day!. A native forest is called the bush and central Australia is called the outback.

Many words were brought to Australia from Britain and Ireland. For example, mate meaning "friend" which is still used in Britain. Some of these words have changed in meaning.

Sometimes we do not know where a word came from. For example, dinkum or fair dinkum means "true", "is that true?", "this is the truth". But nobody know where the word is from: some say the word comes from Chinese, others say the word comes from England.

Australian spelling is generally very similar to British spelling. In words like organise, realise, both -ise and -ize are accepted, as in British English, but, -ise is preferred. In words like colour, favourite, -our is the norm, but some proper names such as the Labor party and Victor Harbor are spelled with -or. Program and jail, on the other hand, are more common than programme and gaol.

Most linguists (scientists who study language) split Australian English up into three main kinds. These are Broad, General, and Cultivated Australian English.

Broad Australian English sounds very strongly Australian, when compared to other kinds of English. Dame Edna Everage speaks Broad Australian English.

General Australian English is the middle ground. It is used by most Australians, and can be heard in Australian-made films and television programs. Eric Bana and Nicole Kidman speak General Australian English.

The Australian accent does not change much across the country. However, some small differences include how the letter 'a' sounds like in the words castle, dance, chance, advance, etc. Some use the vowel in calm others use the vowel in mat or mad. Another regional difference is the pronunciation of 'e' sounds especially followed by 'l', such as Melbourne, helped, cellist, with Victorians generally transposing the 'a' and 'e' vowel sounds in many words. For example pronouncing an 'e' sound in words such as alchemy or chalice, yet an 'a' vowel sound for Celery .

South Australian native accents are often similar to that of New Zealanders, whereas those from Western Australia's capital Perth can have hybrid Australian/British characteristics. Many of those native of Queensland are more likely to have a slower, deliberate speech delivery of the Broad Australian accent.

There are also geographical differences in the words Australians use in different parts of the country. For example, football (or footy for short) means "rugby" in NSW and Queensland, but "Australian rules football" in Victoria. In NSW, a swimming costume is called a cossie or swimmers, in Queensland it is called togs, but it's called bathers in most other states.